rightly instructed which is truly illuminated from the effulgence of the wisdom of God, so that man, contemplating the presence of the Divine Image in himself, may diligently observe and guard that excellence.
5. Now there are two departments of true celestial wisdom which man ought to seek, and into which he ought to be instructed. The one, a clear and true knowledge of God and all of his wonderful works; the other, prudence,—carefully and wisely to regulate self and all external and internal actions appertaining to the present and future life.
6. Primarily as to the future life, because properly speaking that is life, from which both death and mortality pass into exile, since the present is not so much life as the way to life; consequently, whosoever has attained so much in this life as to prepare himself by faith and piety for a future life, must be judged to have fully performed his duty here.
7. Yet, notwithstanding this, inasmuch as God, by bestowing longevity upon many, assigns them certain duties, places in the course of their life various occurrences, supplying occasions for acting prudently. Parents must by all means provide for the training of their children in the duties of faith and piety; so must they also provide for the more polite culture in the moral sciences, in the liberal arts, and in other necessary things; to the end that when grown up they may become truly men, prudently managing their own affairs, and be admitted to the various functions of life, which, whether ecclesiastical or political, civil or social, God has willed them to fulfill, and thus, having righteously and prudently passed through the present life, they may, with the greater joy, migrate to the heavens.
8. In a word, the purpose for which youth ought to be
trary, that a good soul will by its excellence render the body as perfect as it can be.”
